vouch. He was always on good terms with the animals around, and has occasionally formed some rather singular friendships with a few of them. In the garden of the house in which he once lived in the country he found a large toad. He caught him, and carried him within doors, and, it being nutting time, he offered his guest some of the maggots which the nuts contained, and after awhile he took a few. The ice was now broken, and their friendship became more cemented. He gave his quadruped companion the name of "Johnny;" and Johnny would at last come whenever he went into the garden and called for him. He then used to take him in his pocket when he went to the house of any friend that he thought might be amused by the exhibition. Johnny would remain very quiet in his pocket until he was taken out; and then, being placed on the table, would sit as grave as any judge until a maggot was placed before him, when, quick as lightning, it vanished. Sometimes he would condescend to crawl across the table to some other person who tempted him with an inviting morsel. His eye was, indeed, beautiful—it was intelligent, and beamed much affection when it was sometimes fixed on me. I never could get him to speak to me, and I sadly wanted to know with what tone of voice he would address me. I lost him late in September; but in the following April he came crawling to me, and I thought that our intimacy was about to be resumed; but, whether he afterwards went courting, or whether he came to a bad end, I know not: I never saw him again. Let me plead for the abused, harmless, useful toad.

The Frog, pelted by every school-boy and by every foolish fellow of larger growth, is a lively, beautiful, harmless, and useful animal. When he is in the pond he is lying in wait for flies, and it is curious to see how eagerly and unerringly he will dart at them if they come within a few inches of him. When he is in the grass or the garden, he is searching for worms and grubs that would be sadly injurious. Even his murderers cannot say any thing against him; therefore it is thoroughly disgraceful to use him ill.

A plea for the spider has already been placed upon record. Let him be expelled from the house, but still give him the

garden and the field, where he will destroy many a noisome and destructive insect.

A very prevalent source of cruelty is an antipathy which some persons, male as well as female, have, or think they have, or that it is pretty and interesting to have, against certain animals. In some cases they are real-in many more they are affected-in all they are apt to betray us into injurious courses. Of all the animals, next to those that have already been stated, and who suffer from being the object of foolish antipathy, stands the cat. Dr. Drummond, whose argumentative and eloquent essay on Humanity has just fallen into the Author's hands, thus speaks on this point: "The cat, like the rat, is the object of some people's antipathy, though a beautiful, graceful, and most useful animal. To justify the bad treatment with which she is visited, she is maligned as spiteful, treacherous; for no very apparent reason, but that she sometimes shews a proper resentment of injurious usage, and will not suffer herself to be handled as if she were totally destitute of feeling. She is also accused of being more attached to places than to persons, as if this were a crime and not a constitutional affection. She is, however, capable of lasting attachment to her master or mistress; and instances are not wanting of her accompanying them in their excursions to the field, as if she delighted to bear a part in their amusement. But, notwithstanding her beauty and utility, she is often the object of cruel persecution; hunted and pelted with stones by evil-minded men and boys-put into a bowl, set afloat upon the water, and pursued by dogs-sometimes flayed alive to enhance the value of her fur, and extensive districts sometimes robbed of their whole feline race for the paltry gain of their skins.

The barbarities practised by children are of very ancient date. The spinning of the cockchafer, by thrusting a crooked pin, with two or three yards of thread attached to it, through his tail, still shamefully prevails in almost every village. There is one comfort, that the chafer belongs to the white-blooded tribes, and therefore, perhaps, has not so acute a sense of feeling as is generally supposed; but it is a cruel and a shameful

practice. Strutt, in his "Sports and Pastimes of the People of England"-strange that the agony of one animal should afford sport to another-gives an engraving of a boy with a piece of thread tied round the body of a butterfly, and which he is spinning in the same manner. This has date 500 years ago. With a pleasing degree of candour, Mr. Strutt tells a story of himself: "When I was a child, I was caught by my mother, who greatly abhorred every species of cruelty, in the act of spinning a chafer. I was so much delighted with the performance, that I did not observe her coming into the room; but when she saw what I was about, without saying anything previously to me, she caught me by the ear, and pinched me so severely that I cried for mercy. To the punishment she added this just reproof. That insect has its feelings as you have! Do you not see that the swift vibrations of its wings are occasioned by the torment that it sustains? You have pierced its body without remorse; I have only pinched your ear, and yet you have cried out as if I had killed you.' I felt the admonition in its full effect, liberated the poor May-fly, and never impaled another afterwards." May every culprit receive such a punishment, and that punishment produce as salutary an effect!

S

194

ON THE

DISSECTION OF LIVING ANIMALS.

THE Author approaches this part of his subject with reluctance; for he will have to unfold scenes abhorrent to human nature; and to express opinions contrary to the belief and the practice of many whom he sincerely respects. The intimate structure of man and animals-the functions of the different parts the connexion and bearing of various external agents on the well-being of different creatures, are interesting and laudable objects of study--because they are connected with the general happiness of God's offspring. A certain class of societymedical men—are more especially interested here. Their professional character, and their power of doing good, much depend upon the accuracy of their knowledge of these things; and they would be faithless to themselves and to those who employ them if they were not thoroughly acquainted with the anatomy, physiology, and peculiar diseases of the beings to whom they tender their aid.

It must be acknowledged that, in the early ages of medicine, some discoveries of essential moment to the art were made in consequence of experiments on living beings. Anatomy might have been studied on the dead animal; but many essential points of physiology, in the state of medical knowledge at that time, could only have been established by experiments, which, even then, we trust, were reluctantly performed, and which, in the present day, should only be known by name.

The circulation of the blood lies at the foundation of all medical science and medical treatment. It was guessed at, or almost logically inferred, by the immortal Harvey, from his

ON THE DISSECTION OF LIVING ANIMALS.

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long and close study of the vascular system, assisted by dissections of the dead subject, and numerous microscopical observations. It, however, like every useful discovery, met with many opponents; and it seemed to become necessary to put it to the test by certain experiments on the living animal. They were effected, and, although in some respects unsatisfactory, they so far confirmed the opinions of Harvey as to lead to the general admission of the doctrine which he taught. In this view the experiments were important, and may be forgiven.

The power over the inferior animals, delegated to man by the great Creator, includes a right to their services and their lives, provided they are essential to our welfare, and no unnecessary pain is inflicted on any creature. The most ardent advocate of humanity can wish for nothing more than this; `and to the working out of such a principle no one can properly object. The world was formed for the happiness of God's offspring, and the propriety or impropriety of our conduct with regard to our fellow-creatures of every class, will be decided by its increasing or diminishing the general sum of enjoyment. That is the touchstone; and let neither enthusiasm nor coldness of heart induce us to forget or to undervalue the test. Well, then, these painful experiments on living animals—what is the bearing of this fundamental law upon them? It is the end which alone will justify the means. Are we enabled by the tortures which we inflict on them, to arrive with certainty at important conclusions connected with the laws of life and the principles of health and disease, and, consequently, the augmentation of happiness, and the diminution of suffering?—Not half so often as the experimentalist imagines.

We We are operating on animals that have, probably, as keen feelings of pleasure and of pain as ourselves; and we often have proof how both of them, excited to any considerable degree, cause the blood to rush on tumultuously in its course, or, as it were by magic, impede, or arrest at once the vital current. Every power of the body and of the mind is increased or exhausted to a degree that would be deemed incredible, and, consequently, every function is disarranged. Then is it possible that, in a vast majo